Social services ban C4's Kim and Aggie from cleaning home of boy, 9, who wanted to surprise his mother

Social services banned Channel 4 stars Kim and Aggie filming a How Clean Is Your House? episode over concerns a home was so dirty it would embarrass the nine-year-old boy who lived there.

The boy had pleaded with Channel 4 bosses to give the home a makeover as a treat for his mother.

He wrote them a letter as part of a school project, supported by his headteacher. TV company Talkback Thames then sent a child psychologist, who approved the programme.

The boy finally got to meet Kim and Aggie at a roadshow in Birkenhead

A camera crew was then sent round to the terraced house in Chorley, Lancashire, and his mother signed a contract.

The family were then all ready for the big day when celebrity
cleaners Kim Woodburn and Aggie MacKenzie, whose show appears on
Channel 4, would transform their home.

But TV producers made a routine check with social services who said no and insisted they pull the programme.

They said the house was so dirty it would embarrass the youngster.

Social workers wouldn't comment on the case but said they always put children's interests first.

The boy and his mother, 30, a former heroin addict, live in a house
covered in filth and grime, with mould growing on dirty plates in the
kitchen and piles of clothes strewn across the floor.

There's no wallpaper in the living room and the worn carpet is full of cigarette burns.

'Kim and Aggie would have really helped us,' he said.

'When they asked me who I wanted to write to I couldn't think of anyone else - I wanted to do something to help my mum.'

His mother said she was upset after learning the programme would not go ahead and said it would have changed their lives.

'Things have really got on top of us and with Kim and Aggie's help
we would have been able to get back on the right track,' she said.

'I really don't understand them saying it would be a bad thing for us. It could only be a good thing.

'My son was gutted when he had to tell all his friends that he wasn't going to be on the TV.

'All social services did was send a woman round for about an hour
one day and for a couple of hours another day. She just came round and
threw all of our stuff in a skip.'

Helen Denton, executive director for children and young people at
Lancashire County Council, said: 'When we work with families, we listen
to the views of everyone involved, but it is our duty to put the
interests of children first.'

The child's headteacher, who helped him write to Channel 4, said all he was trying to do was help his mother.

'It says a lot about what kind of boy he is - he only ever thinks of others,' she said.

'He was so excited about it and it is a shame he wasn't able to get
his dream. All he was doing was asking for help and help was right
around the corner.'

To make it up to the boy, television producers invited him and 17
classmates to a How Clean Is Your House? roadshow in Birkenhead on May
1.

The children all got to meet Kim and Aggie and they were given signed photographs and rubber gloves as mementoes.

Talkback Thames said: 'We are inundated with potential contributors and we have a thorough selection process.

'This family were not selected but we wouldn't comment on an individual application.'

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Social services ban C4's Kim and Aggie from cleaning home of boy, 9, who wanted to surprise his mother